Written for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, Task 1.
It wasn't the first time Malfoy had targeted him, and he doubted that it would be the last time; yet today it felt worse than normal.
Maybe it was because members of his own house had laughed at his misfortune, or maybe it was because today he realised he'd always be the one singled out by Malfoy.
He wasn't picked out at random because Malfoy liked bullying people, no, it was to do with family. Malfoy's aunt had tortured his parents until they were nothing and she had ended up in Azkaban because of it, but Malfoy didn't think that fair and was determined to make him pay for it.
That's what every jinx, every attempt to trip him up and every shove or punch in the back was about.
And Neville could deal with it because he had no other choice, but what hurt more than anything Malfoy had done or plan to do to him was that rarely anyone in his house stood up for him.
Why would they?. He was Neville the klutz, the one who annoyed his own head of house by forgetting things all the time, the one who made Snape always take points away from Gryffindor.
He'd tried being less clumsy and to remember stuff, tried to be better at potions, and it hadn't worked.
The only thing he'd ever been good at was Herbology, and had persuaded Professor Sprout to let him work in the Green Houses in his spare time; Malfoy had managed to spoil that too and now he was left with nothing that he enjoyed at Hogwarts.
He'd once written to his gran telling her about the things Malfoy did and her response was to deal with it himself.
Which was the response he'd expected, but it still stung like a slap to the face.
Which was why he hadn't bothered telling her when things got worst or when Crabbe and Goyle began targeting him without Malfoy present.
When they destroyed his homework ten minutes before he had to hand it in, he said nothing. When they hit him so hard in the stomach and he was sick, he said nothing to no one.
And no one ever asked, not the professors who saw him upset or the students who often witnessed it and walked away.
He was in a place full of people and he felt utterly alone.
The only thing he could do was count down days until the holidays. Wanting everyday to end as quickly as possible and the new one not to start.
Like a horrible cycle that he'd have to repeat until he finally reached his seventh year and be finished with the place. Then knowing his luck he'd end up in working the same place where Malfoy or one of his cronies worked.
The thought having to spend his adult life being belittled and bullied filled Neville with even more dread.